Dina Espinosa was a 35-year-old California woman who made headlines after reportedly falling to her death while attempting to take photos of a waterfall at Lake Tahoe. Following Dina’s tragic death, the North Tahoe Fire Protection District suggested that she died when she put capturing the perfect photo above her own safety.
They even published a Facebook post in which they described the dangers of taking photographs in precarious locations. It wasn’t difficult to see where their motivation from the warning post had come from. However, that post has now been deleted as further details regarding Dina’s death have been revealed, according to NBC News . As it turns out, everything didn’t unfold exactly as was described in the media.
Newly released details regarding Dina’s death explain how the 35-year-old lost her footing while exploring the waterfall. She attempted to reach for a tree branch to regain her hold, but sadly could not do so in time.
Nelly Maltez was one of Dina’s close friends. She wasted no time in setting the record straight in terms of how her friend died and the kind of person she was. While she acknowledged that there are certainly some instances in which people may put themselves in danger to take a good picture, this simply wasn’t the case in this instance.
A woman in northern California died on Friday after she reportedly lost her footing and fell while taking a selfie near Lake Tahoe’s Emerald Bay. https://t.co/SWkLfuXS70
— KFI AM 640 (@KFIAM640) June 2, 2019
In a public Facebook post, Maltez remembered Dina as a “beautiful and kind human being both inside and out.”
She was also a mother of three children and one of the most notably responsible members of her family. Maltez emphasized that it is for these things that Dina deserves to be remembered as, not from a false narrative that was spread following her death that does not accurately explain the way in which her life was prematurely brought to an end. She went on to clarify that Dina didn’t even have her phone on her when she died.
“I understand that other accidents have occurred due to individuals taking selfies, but this was most definitely not one of them. She was the core of her family, the eldest sister, the strong, centered one that would always bring people together. She would light up any room she walked into.”
A sheriff’s spokesman, Sgt. Anthony Prencipe, was asked to explain where the narrative of Dina dying as a result of taking a selfie came from. He explained that Dina Espinosa was simply the name that they were given by a coroner and that they received the details secondhand as well.
